Remember the what color is the dress debate from a few weeks ago? Well, it turns out that I have those kind of nasty debates with myself all the time over color in my projects. Color makes or breaks a project which is why it can be extremely frustrating. I spend hours and hours getting the color of a project just right, only to have it look completely different when printed, or photographed, or viewed on the computer. Gah! I've actually bought two online classes just because they had a part in their syllabus called color. Boy was I disappointed to learn in both of those classes that there really isn't a trick to color. You can learn all the tricks in the world, and it will never print exactly how you want it to. The designers suggestion was to do what you can and then let it go. Double gah!

So what can you do? Here are some of the few things that I've learned about color on my own.

First, know what files your printer accepts. I don't really understand the complexities of RGB vs CMYK, all I know is that if you save a file that you created in Illustrator (always CMYK) in Photoshop, it will print neon. If you have something that turns out neon, go back to the document and change it to RGB mode before saving it.

Don't just pick any color on the color palette. It's tempting I know. But some colors even though they are there, are actually out of gamut and will print weird. Photoshop and Illustrator have a warning box that appears if something is out of gamut. If you are lucky enough to own Pantone Color Swatches, then color accuracy should be easier for you, but if you can't afford them like most of us, it's all a guessing game.

It takes time! I would guess that I spend as much time selecting and adjusting colors as I do actually drawing the project. Maybe even more time.

When uploading projects or photos to the web, know that they can and probably will look different from monitor to monitor and even on the same monitor but in different browsers. Very annoying. I had this problem the other week when I was uploading photos to this blog. Everything looked fine on my monitor in Photoshop, but desaturated and gray on the blog on the same monitor. Turns out I had to change the image mode to sRGB. See the photos of me at the top and the photos of the Hiltons below for an example. Both images are the same, just saved differently. The images on the left are saved as AdobeRGB and the images on the right are sRGB. Images for the web need to be saved as sRGB to maintain color accuracy.

5. Calibrate your monitor through your monitor AND through your intel graphics and media control panel (for Windows). Or just own a Mac. I hear those monitors are great with accuracy of color. But if you aren't as lucky, you run into problems like the one below.

-Photo A is the original file that I designed in Illustrator. I changed the colors of this print hundreds of times (I'm not exaggerating) before I even printed it.-Photo B is a screenshot of how the photographer's photo of the print looked on my monitor. I realized that my monitor was way too saturated. The only way to turn down the saturation of the monitor was through the intel graphics card. I also had to adjust just the yellows and reds on my monitor. It took lots of going back and forth.-Photo C is what the photographer's photo of the print looked like on her screen and on mine after I fixed my monitor. It looks much better, but still not like the original file or oddly enough, like the physical print that she was actually photographing. It was confusing to me how the photograph of the print could look so different than the print itself. And very frustrating. -Photo D is the photographer's photo of the print after *much* tweaking in Photoshop. Now it looks more like the original, but still not exactly the same, sigh. At least it isn't the nasty yellow colors of photos B/C.

A

C

B

D

Moral of the story? Selecting and adjusting colors is a huge part of a designer's process. And it's usually a frustrating, time consuming, and pricey process (especially when you have to reprint items until the colors turn out right--more on that story tomorrow).

Please share with me what you have learned about colors! Do you have any time saving tips? Or good classes to take/articles to read? I still have a long way to go on understanding color in the digital world.

Printing is a tricky business. It's hard to find a place with reasonable prices and great quality. I held back from selling printed art prints before now because I couldn't find a quality printer in my area. I finally asked another artist where he got prints made of his art, and he directed me to Finer Works. I'm so happy that he did! I am blown away with the quality of their service, from the ordering to the packaging to the print itself. I started recommending them to every customer and finally decided to start using them for my business. So from here on out, all Citrus and Mint Gifts products will be printed with Finer Works. Since I am going to be using them as a printing service for y'all, I thought I would do a review on them so that you can know what to expect when you receive an order.

First of all, I love that they don't skip on the packaging. I've ordered art prints before where it comes in a tube and takes forever to flatten out. Or where it comes in a flimsy envelope and the corners of the prints are bent. There are no problems with that here. The outside package is either cardboard (for larger orders like mine above) or a rigid cardboard envelope (for smaller orders). Inside that envelope, the prints were packaged by size in clear plastic sleeves and then taped to an inner piece of cardboard to prevent any movement during shipping. Everything has come quickly and on time. I get a tracking number for every order.

Even better than the packaging, the prints are superb! The details on the prints are so clear and crisp and the colors are outstanding. I had them print a copy of a watercolor painting by my grandfather. When it came, we couldn't even tell that it was a print; it looked so much like the real thing! All of my prints will be printed on heavy weight (9.5 mil/230 g/m^2), acid-free, archival matte paper with Canon Lucia Inks.

The biggest advice I have to save hours of frustration when printing your scrapbook pages is to PREP AS YOU GO. It took me 5 books before I realized that life would be much easier when it came time to print if I prepped my pages as I finished them. Duh Rachel.

Pick a size: Before you even scrap a page, decide on the final size of your book. I usually do 12x12 books, but I have printed 8.5x11, 10x10, and 8x8. Make sure that it is always set for 300 dpi. For all square books design your layouts at 12x12. You can always make them smaller, but you lose quality when you make them bigger.

Proofread: Don't skip this step. Trust me. I have books with many spelling errors and some books with even bigger errors like "I didn't know you went to Bear Lake" "Oops, supposed it's to be Bass Lake" or "I didn't know you went on a Disney cruise last year" "Oops, we went three years ago." Proofread titles, journaling, dates, names, captions, make sure every layer has a shadow (except for fonts), etc.

Save: Save your layout as a .jpeg file with the quality set to 12 (highest quality). Create a folder for all of your finished jpeg files. Name the page something useful, like the page number it will be or the title of the page.

Bleed: Bleed is the caution area required so that nothing important gets cut off in the printing process. Bleed is confusing, and then combined with the space lost where the binding is, I've just found it easier to add a .25 inch white border around all of my pages as a safety measure. Then I never have to worry about uploading my pages as 12.25x12.25 or making sure that elements, photos, and journaling are .25 inches from the edge of the page. To do this I save the page as a jpeg and then drag it onto a template that I've made (you can download below) and saved it again as a jpeg to a folder called "jpeg with border." Download white border template HERE or black border template HERE.

Upload as you go: As soon as you finish a page, or a set of pages, save them and upload them to the printer's site. Uploading takes FOREVER, even on a fast internet connection. It is so much easier to upload them 5 at a time as you finish them, rather than 78 pages the night before your coupon expires.

without safety border

I like to scrap to the very edge--and in this layout, some journaling, the title, and a photo could potentially get cut off in the printing process.

with safety border

It does make the layout a little smaller, but when the book is 12x12, looking at a 11.75x11.75 layout is still pretty big. Plus the white border is not distracting.

Printing digital scrapbooking pages is the worst part of scrapbooking for me. It takes forever and can be really frustrating. Plus I always have a mini-heart attack when I see the total price of printing a book. Eek! But all of that goes away when you get your book in the mail. Your book, your pages, your memories now recorded forever. I've had a few friends recently ask me questions about how I print my scrapbook pages, so I thought I'd do a three-part series on what I've learned while navigating this complicated process.

**Special note: This review is for people printing completed scrapbook pages, meaning they created those pages in Photoshop NOT with the printer's online program. [. . .]

buy a photo editing program.

I started with the 30 day trial of Photoshop CSC, but after talking to my photographer friends I bought Photoshop Elements 7.0 (PSE 7). Photoshop Elements (now there are more updated versions) will have everything you need, nothing you don't. If you are a student, you can usually get Photoshop at a discount. Or you can buy it at Costco for pretty cheap. It is a HUGE progam, so make sure to install it on a fast computer. You may also want to look into buying an external hard drive to store all of the pages you create and freebies you download!!! Some people use Paint Shop Pro, but I don't know anything about it. Adobe products are the standard.

download free stuff!

Start off with an organized system of downloading, I didn't and have to go back from time to time to organize (i.e. create a folder with the designer's name and put all of the things you get from that designer in the folder or organize by kit theme, or color). Friday is your new favorite day. I opened up a separate email account just to send all of my scrapbooking emails and newsletters. This helps keep out the clutter from my normal email. I only open it on Fridays, which is when most people send out their new stuff. It's like Christmas!

Find out my favorite places to download things HERE.

understand the jargon.

*Kits contain papers and elements (elements are all the extras like ribbons, buttons, fun shapes, stamps, alphas, staples, etc.)*Templates are basic pages that are set up for you with paper, element, journal, and photo placement where you "clip" or paste your own things to them. They help make scrapbooking faster, espeically if you are out of ideas. *Acronyms- PS (photoshop), PSE (photoshop elements), CT (creative team who scraps for a designer), PU (personal use only products to be used for personal scrapbooking non-profit only), CU (commercial use products that can be used for commercial projects with or without permission) *Freebies=free stuff! Your new favorite word! *Zipped or compressed files-To save time on downloading, all of your downloads will be zipped files. You will have to unzip them with your computer's program, or download a free unzipping program before opening them.

printing.

When your husband gasps at how much a book costs to print, remind him of how much paper scrapbooking would cost. Even printing 4x6 photos and putting them in a plastic protector type album would cost more than digital scrapbooking and it's not as cute. The cheapest site I've found is Viovio. Shutterfly is over priced and only worth it if you have a really good coupon. I've printed several books from Viovio and they turn out really nice. Be careful to begin with the end in mind. Most scrapbooking pages are 12x12, so your options to print will be 12x12 or 10x10. If you want a different size book, then make sure that you create all of your pages that size in the beginning. I've done 8.5x11 size books too. It would be helpful to look at the site, choose the type of book you want, and then get started. Make sure that you leave at least 1/2 inch around the borders for possible cropping when printing. Or you can give all your pages a 1/4 inch white or black border like I do. It helps to avoid a massive endless upload of all of your pages by proofing pages and uploading them to the printing site as you create them instead when you are ready to print (it also acts as another back-up).

(Update: Do NOT use Mixbook! They are horrible. I had a groupon so I printed my daughter's baby book from there, but it was a pain from start to finish. It took forever (like days) to upload the pages and they have HORRIBLE customer service. No phone, just email. Some pages of my book are fuzzy and pixelated. My friend printed three different books from them and they all were cut out wrong so they have uneven white borders and were off set. She can't even talk to a person to figure out how to return these books. Save yourself some trouble by using someone else.)

back-up.

I cannot emphasize this enough. There are lots of horror stories out there. Invest in an external hard drive and back up often! I'm super paranoid so I back up my stuff in at least three places-my computer, my external hard drive, and burned DVDs. Sometimes I upload my favorite ones online and of course having a printed book is back up too.